1950 Bride Doll

The Chicken Dance: Can you pullet off?

It's that month again: June. Moon. Spoon. Chicken dance.

"We're doing the chicken dance like you wouldn't believe," says Jim Schwobel, tuba player with the New Austin Polka Band, which is called upon to perform the poultry polka at numerous weddings, along with fairs and festivals.

"It's a way to get people on the dance floor, and it's a way to make the bride and groom look really silly," he says. "We have some weddings where that's all they want us to do. They just want us to come do the Chicken Dance and then get out."

There are also people who'd rather the band get out before it gets around to playing the Chicken Dance. It's a polarizing song: You love it or hate it. It's popular because its four main steps are hard to mess up: Mime a chicken's beak opening, wings flapping and tail waggling; then clap four times.

After a couple of bars of those repetitive motions, there's a little musical bridge during which there are, according to the manuals of chicken dance choreography, several options: (1) Put your arms out and spin in place, (2) Join hands and run or walk in a circle, (3) Link arms and move around the circle or (4) Link arms with a partner. What usually happens during the bridge is (5) A massive collision of confused bodies running around like, well, chickens with their heads cut off.

"It's sort of like doing a tequila shot with salt and lime," Schwobel says. "There are a lot of variations. We try to get them into a circle that moves left and right." Some bands ignore the bridge altogether in an attempt to reduce dance floor mayhem.

Whatever the version, the Chicken Dance is a highly popular opportunity to flail — especially at weddings and at fall Wurstfests and Oktoberfests. Fredericksburg's Oktoberfest features a Chicken Dance Around the Square. In Cincinnati, there's Chicken Dancing with the Stars ("stars" typically being local TV news anchors). Fisher-Price has a Chicken Dance Elmo doll that performs a very rudimentary take on the dance (wing-flapping, head-nodding). And, of course, the Chicken Dance has its own Facebook page — actually, numerous Facebook pages. There's also the obligatory "I Hate the Chicken Dance" page.

According to "Guinness World Records," the largest chicken dance amassed 72,000 flapping-and-clapping souls at the Canfield, Ohio, Fair in September 1996. "For 10 minutes," according to the Guinness entry, "all rides were paused and all vendors stopped working to dance to music blaring from sound systems. The crowd was led by the rooster mascot, members of the Fair's board and a group of cheerleaders. Uniformed Springfield Township firefighters danced on top of a vintage fire truck, and many people even carried chickens as they danced.

barbie bride doll: Top Ten Collectible Dolls Of The 1950s

Vogue Ginny

There are few dolls that have attracted the kind of following that the Vogue Ginny inspires. Outrageously popular when she was introduced around 1950, this doll is an eight-inch "toddler doll," meaning that she has the chubby figure and adorable face of a toddler. Today, Ginny is incredibly popular with collectors.

Madame Alexander Elise

Fashion doll collectors know that the early Madame Alexander Elise, introduced in 1957, is a very unique doll. The 16-inch tall Elise had jointed ankles, and as a result she was frequently dressed as a ballerina. However, she also came in highly fashionable street dresses, pantsuits, and formal gowns. Today, Elise's street dresses and formals are the most highly desirable of her outfits.

Nancy Ann Storybook Muffie

Muffie has a face unlike most other eight-inch toddler dolls, with eyes spaced wide apart, sultry lashes, and full lips. Although she was one of Vogue Ginny's competitors, she is more than just a knock-off; she has earned her own place on collectors' shelves, and generally commands as high a price (or higher than) as Ginny does.

Madame Alexander Cissette

A miniature (and more affordable) version of the glamorous Cissy, Cissette boasts a beautiful wardrobe of street dresses, opera dresses with matching coats, formal gowns, and stylish pantsuits. Her size may be small -- a mere nine inches -- but she has an abundance of appeal to collectors!

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